Saturday, September 19, 2009

Dada As I Knew Him


Dada was always a reserved person, never expressed his feelings outwardly. My father used to call him “Darubhuto Murari”. When he stood tenth in School Board Examination and did not get higher position because of his silly mistake of overlooking few questions,

he did not react at all. He took it quietly, while others including my parents were down with sorrow and virtually lamenting. Being the youngest member of the family and much younger to Dada, I did not comprehend its importance at that time. Later, when I grew up, I came to appreciate Dada for his calm and composed behaviour and his attitude

towards life. Sometimes I felt he was much wiser than us. In school days, during Durga Puja, once I requested him to accompany us to nearby Puja pandals to see the Idols. He answered me in negative, saying all Idols are same; therefore there is no need for hopping from pandal to pandal. But one’s views changes over the years under circumstances. When he entered “Garhasthya Jeevan” his views also took a turn. In late nineties when I was visiting my mother at Jamshedpur during Puja, Dada drove us around to see the images and brought Prasada for us. He realized that social aspect of Durga Puja is no less important than the Puja itself.

Though his pastime was reading Dictionaries, from time to time he joined us in indoor games like cards and carrum.Whenever we had attached lawn with our residence, we also played badminton together. One striking incident I still remember from my childhood days that Dada and Chorda once fighting with each other for some reason that was un-known to me. Finally my mother intervened and stopped them. I still feel that the cause was not so great, but the claustrophobia we were all going through in that rented two-room place in Kolkata in late forties was to be blamed for what had happened. Therefore we were all overjoyed when our father got transferred to Sambhunath Pandit hospital and allotted a bungalow with a garden within the hospital precinct. Didi, Dada, Chorda, Chordi and I made earthen lamps from dug-up mud from the garden to decorate our home during Deepabali festival. We also prepared toy bricks and built a toy house under Dada’s guidance. Chorda with his technology made lighting available in the rooms.

From this exercise my father got an idea about our future. Dada was to become a civil engineer and Chorda an electrical engineer. Dada’s destiny was fixed, but Chorda became a mining engineer instead. Dada was indirectly responsible for my future. When he was admitted to Shibpur B. E. College my father often went to see him. There he came to know that Architecture was being offered to girl students. For this subject the candidates need to be good in drawing along with mathematics and science subjects. From those days my father had a desire to make me an architect and that is what I have become.

Thanks to my father’s ideas. Dada and I together were working for last fifteen years to achieve professional excellence. With Dada’s structural expertise I could build Vinod Gupta School of Management, I.I.T. Kharagpur and Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, I.I.T. Kharagpur. He was out to out a professional, always meeting his dates, always presenting complete, clear and detailed structural drawings. Two days before he left for his heavenly abode, both of us were taking a stroll around the Law school observing finished and unfinished construction. Any time I faced a problem at site, just one phone call to Dada and I got the solution. Just like schooldays, if there was any difficulty in doing homework, easy solution was to ask Dada and get it done. His absence has created a setback in my professional work.

Dada never bothered anybody for anything, not even for his health. He had spondylitis and heart problem. Spondylitis began after he was hurt during construction of a road when he was with Border Roads in early sixties. He was hospitalized for sometime, but he never informed my parents about it. I found my mother spending sleepless nights, sitting on the bed. At that time my father was Civil Surgeon of Midnapore District. Finally when Dada’s letter arrived, Father’s immediate instruction to him was to leave that job and come home and apply for lectureship at I.I.T. Kharagpur. He was a brilliant student all through, therefore did not stumble to join I.I.T. Kharagpur. In January 1967 convocation, Dada and I both received our degrees, Dada had Ph.D. and I earned B.Arch (Hons). Chordi also joined I.I.T. Kharagpur as assistant lecturer about a year and a half back. Having their eldest son in I.I.T. and married (1964), my parents were very much contended at that time. In 1966 Chorda also got married and BauBhat was arranged at Dada’s quarter at I.I.T. Kharagpur.

Dada’s marriage was something very special. Though it was an arranged marriage the bride, Basabi, was very much known to us. She was my classmate and close friend from Bethune School. The day they got engaged my father came with Dada and picked me up from the hostel and we three went to Prof. G.S. Sanyal’s house to meet Basabi. Her renowned writer uncle Shri Satinath Bhaduri and her mother came along with her. Prof. Sanyal being Basabi’s maternal uncle, he took the initiative to arrange the meeting. It was end of April and the marriage date was fixed on May 13. Father was in a hurry, because guest control regulation was to be enforced soon and he had a long list of invitees. He planned a marriage feast that was extra-ordinary. He also planned a reception for the bride which was very entertaining. Father hired a Band Party to receive the couple from the Station and accompany them to a nearby temple for Pranam and then bring them home. That was the beginning of Dada and Basabi’s forty five years of long stride together. Sweet remembrances of those days bring comfort to us all.

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